MyAnna Buring has said it was like working with an "old friend" when she reunited with her Ripper Street co-star Matthew Macfadyen for the big screen.

The actress shot Epic, due out next year, with Matthew in Georgia, after filming small screen drama Ripper Street together.

"It's been great, lovely," she said of working with Matthew on the movie, the story of an English filmmaker who is hired to direct a huge production in the Caucasus region of Europe.

"It's like working with an old mate the second time around so it's fun."

MyAnna, who attended the First Light Awards this week, to celebrate the next generation of British filmmakers, is about to start working on a second series of Ripper Street, which has been recommissioned despite complaints it was too violent.

"Victorian times were incredibly violent. That's an element the show picked up," MyAnna said. "It would have been criticised if it hadn't."